Kipchaks in Georgia

The Cumans-Kipchaks in Georgia, are of an ancient nomadic Turkic people who occupied large territories from Central Asia to Eastern Europe. They, (the Cuman-Kipchak confederation) played an important role in the history of many nations in the region, Georgia among them. At the height of this Caucasian power from the 12th to the 13th centuries, Georgian monarchs recruited thousands of Kipchak/Cuman mercenaries and successfully exploited their service against the neighboring Muslim states.

The first contacts between the Georgians and Cumans-Kipchaks date back to the 11th century when the Cumans and Kipchaks founded a nomadic confederation in the southern Russian steppes. Their relations with Georgia seem to have been generally peaceful. Moreover, the Georgian politicians of that time saw the Cuman-Kipchaks as potential allies against the Seljuk conquests. According to Georgian chronicles, Georgians knew about the Cumans-Kipchaks good fighting skills, their bravery, and the enormous human resources that they had."

The architect of the Georgian–Cuman/Kipchak alliance was the Georgian king David IV “the Builder” (r. 1089–1125), who employed tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of Cuman-Kipchak soldiers and settled them in his kingdom in 1118. This measure, one of the central parts of David’s military reforms during his struggle against the Seljuk invaders, had been preceded by the visit of the high-ranking Georgian delegation, including the king himself and his chief adviser and tutor George of Chqondidi, to the Cuman-Kipchak headquarters. To secure the alliance with these nomads, David married a Cuman-Kipchak princess, Gurandukht, daughter of Khan Otrok (Atraka, son of Sharaghan, of the Georgian chronicles), and invited his new in-laws to settle in Georgia. David mediated a peace between the Cumans-Kipchaks and Alans, and probably had some consultations also with the Velikiy Kniaz of Kievan Rus', Vladimir Monomakh, who had defeated Otrak in 1109, to secure a free passage for the Cuman-Kipchak tribesmen back to Georgia.

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